The Honorable John Manley
Chairman, the Manley Committee
Formerly, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
No Fixed Address
Ottawa, Canada
Dear Mr. Manley,
Re: A public submission to your committee to advise Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Canada’s plan for Afghanistan.
When the formation of your committee [.pdf] was announced at the end of October, there was considerable publicity given to a Web site to be set up for public submissions. This, like your committee, seems to have disappeared almost without trace.
I therefore attach my submission, which I believe speaks for itself.
Yours sincerely,
Neil Kitson
Stephen Harper’s Index
Minimum number of rip-offs inspired by the famed Harper’s Index: 1
Minimum number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001: 73
Minimum number of prisoners taken in Afghanistan by Canadian troops: 200
Number of those prisoners now in Canadian custody: 0
Information provided by the Department of National Defense about such prisoners: 0
Number of "Geneva Conventions" that Canada has signed: 26
Number that the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has signed: 0
Number of grave breaches of international humanitarian law (i.e., "war crimes") committed by transfer of prisoners of war from a "detaining power" to a "transferring power" when the transferring power does not meet the standards of international humanitarian law: 1
Exceptions that may be made to such transfer by signing local agreements (Article 10, Third Geneva Convention, 1949): 0
Number of such agreements Canada has signed with the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan: 2 [.pdf]
Budget of the National Research Council of Canada for 2007: $C 800 million
Cost of new and existing German tanks for Canadians Forces in Afghanistan: $C 1.3 billion
Number of German arms manufacturers to have employed Canada’s minister for national defense: 1
Number of days from the time Churchill told Stalin a "cross-channel" operation would be "folly" to the time the Dieppe Raid was launched across the English Channel, August 1942: 6 [.pdf]
Number of Canadian soldiers killed in the Dieppe Raid, August 1942: 913
Number of Canadian soldiers safely returned after withdrawal from Dieppe: 2,210
Number of Canadian prime ministers to suggest that Canada had "cut and run" at Dieppe: 0
Number of Canadian prime ministers to suggest that withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan would be to "cut and run": 1
